


Sizeshifter

by KieraElieson



Series: Parental Fics [8]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, G/T, Gen, Remus and Patton do dumb things but for good reasons, Sizeshifting, instant friendship, semi kidnapping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26343625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KieraElieson/pseuds/KieraElieson
Summary: Virgil meets the giant in the woods and expects to never see him again. Until the next day at school there's a new kid named Roman who looks exactly like him but human sized.And then somehow Roman shows up again, but tiny???What’s going on?
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders
Series: Parental Fics [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1802734
Comments: 33
Kudos: 63





	1. Chapter 1

It was a dream. It had to be.

There was no way he’d actually met a giant.

No way.

None.

The smell of dirt and wet leaves was still on him, and he certainly wasn’t _clean_. So the going to the woods was real. But not the giant. It couldn’t be.

No.

His alarm went off, and he hit the button. He wasn’t sure he’d slept at all that night. But he must’ve. Somehow he’d gotten back from the woods and passed out, having that dream.

He changed, and heard phantom humming. Unmistakably a Disney song. That had been a _vivid_ dream.

Suddenly a foot so large he barely reached the ankle, landing beside him.

Brushing his teeth, and hearing again the voice, so very loud despite the giant’s attempt to whisper. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there!”

And then a massive hand pushing the trees aside, and an even more massive face. “Are you alright?”

Virgil went downstairs, and got something for breakfast.

“I really am sorry for scaring you. I guess... I’ll leave then.”

Massive footsteps still seemed to shake the ground as he walked to the bus stop.

He was still shaking the last cobwebs of the dream from his mind when he got to school.

And then he froze. The other boy froze too. Despite the distance between them, they’d made eye contact, and recognition had sparked immediately.

And then someone bumped into him, nearly knocking him to the ground, and by the time he looked back, the other boy was gone.

But—- it was impossible.

For one, that had just been a dream! And for two, that had been a giant! A truly huge, massive giant!

It was impossible. Had to be.

And he didn’t catch sight of the boy again the rest of the day. He was beginning to wonder if he really hadn’t slept, and it wasn’t a dream, it was a sleep-deprived hallucination.

Until he’d gotten his stuff together and was leaving for home, and was suddenly shoved into the wall.

He totally didn’t jump and let out a squeak. Absolutely not.

“You listen to me,” the boy said roughly, but somehow tentatively still, as if he didn’t have experience bullying people, and he’d just happened to pick Virgil to start with. “You don’t tell anyone about me. Not a single person. Or I’ll make you regret it.”

Virgil nodded quickly, wondering now if he was still in bed with a high fever.

The boy let go of him, gave a glare that was obviously trying too hard, and walked out.

Virgil got home and dropped his backpack.

“Virge?” His dad called.

Virgil didn’t even quite answer, just making a vague sound, his mind whirling so much that nothing made sense.

“Virge? You ok?”

Virgil looked up, his eyes seeming to move more slowly than usual. He leaned forward, and his dad caught him in a hug.

“What happened? Are you ok?”

“Got bullied,” Virgil mumbled, wrapping his arms around his dad. “It was weird.”

“Just weird?”

Virgil nodded into his shoulder. “I think I need a nap or something.”

“Alright. What do you think about a quick snack first?”

Virgil nodded. Maybe his blood sugar was low. Dad got kind of loopy when his was low. He just didn’t know what to make of any of this.

His dad very kindly didn’t ask questions, just gave him something to eat, not-so-subtly checked his forehead, and let him go to bed.

Virgil just laid there for a while. Staring at the wall and trying to fall asleep, though rather unsuccessfully.

A small sound caught his attention, and he rolled over, nearly screaming. He shoved his blanket up over his face.

“I don’t know what kind of ghost you are, but leave me alone!”

“I’m not a ghost!” The other boy said, his voice rather high-pitched. He was sitting on Virgil’s bedside table, and was very small. “I’m a size shifter.”

“Well what do you want with me?” Virgil asked from behind the blanket.

“I... well, I wanted to apologize. Or not really. Cause I still will make you regret it if you tell on me. But I was just mean to you at school for no reason, and I’m sorry.”

Virgil pulled the blanket down, frowning at the tiny boy. “You’re really weird, you know that?”

He laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. “Sort of.”

“How did you even get in my room?”

“Oh, well I grew tall enough to reach your windowsill, and then held on and shrunk really tiny and crawled inside. And I got a little bigger now, but I’m kinda out of power. I have to wait for a bit before I can change again.”

“So I could totally squish you right now.”

The boy let out a bunch of strange noises and hid behind the alarm clock. “Why would you do that?!?”

“Well you threatened to squish me if I told.”

“I did not!”

“Did too.”

“Did not!”

“You basically did.”

The boy frowned. “Well I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant I’d drop you in the lake or something.”

“Oh, so I can drop you in the toilet?”

“No! I don’t even know why I came here, you’re worse than Remus.”

“You came to apologize,” Virgil said.

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t have if I knew you were this rude.”

“You snuck into my room, and bullied me at school, and threatened to drop me in a lake!”

“You threatened to drop me in a _toilet_! That’s worse!”

“Virgil, what’s—“ his dad asked, freezing just inside the door.

“Oh, great, now you made me get seen!” The boy said. “Now you both can’t tell on me!”

“I did?! You were the one who started it!”

Virgil’s dad cleared his throat, and they both fell silent, turning to him. “Who are you, first. My name is Patton Sanders, and it seems you already know Virgil.”

The boy sort of pouted. “My name’s Roman. I can’t remember what my actual last name was, so I tell people that it’s Passion.”

“Passion?”

Roman nodded. “It was Mom’s favorite word.”

“Her favorite word was passion?” Virgil asked, wrinkling his nose.

“It was!” Roman defended. “It’s a very good word!”

“Boys, please. Roman, where’s your mom now?”

Roman’s face fell. “I’m not sure.”

Virgil’s dad nodded slowly. “Alright. Do you have a home to get back to? A dad?”

Roman shrugged. “Well, there’s Remus, but he just does his own thing.”

“And Remus is your dad?”

Roman laughed. “No, he’s my brother!”

Virgil’s dad nodded again. Slow and thoughtful. “Why don’t you have a sleepover here tonight then, and tomorrow you can invite your brother?”

Roman shook his head firmly. “I’m not supposed to be seen when I’m not human-sized, and especially not to stay with people that see me.”

Virgil could tell his dad’s smile was strained. “Well, would you at least stay for dinner?”

“I guess I could stay just for dinner,” Roman said hesitantly. “But you two still haven’t promised that you won’t tell people about me, and you have to!”

Virgil shrugged and sat up. “Ok, then. I don’t tell anybody.”

His dad was more reserved. “You’ll be alright, Roman. Let’s go get some food, and we can talk a bit more, ok?”

Roman nodded, looking rather worried. And then he closed his eyes, and suddenly was about a foot and a half tall. He looked quite tired after that, and sat down on Virgil’s desk. “I can make it downstairs now.”

Virgil’s dad nodded. “I’ll go get the table set then. Dinner will be soon, and I’ll call you two.”

As soon as he left Roman let out a long sigh. “Your dad’s gonna tell on me, isn’t he?”

“No! He wouldn’t do that!” Virgil said quickly.

“He might!” Roman protested. “He wouldn’t promise.”

Virgil shook his head. “He’s not ever mean like that. Never.”

Roman shrugged. “You’re just saying that cause he’s your dad.”

Virgil frowned. It wasn’t true, but he didn’t know what else he could say that wouldn’t make it seem like it was.

His dad called them a minute later.

“Can you make it down or do you want me to carry you?”

Roman bristled. “I am perfectly capable of walking by myself!”

Virgil was tired of arguing with him, so he just shrugged and ran downstairs, turning back to see Roman start down, taking each step in a jump.

“See?” Roman said, jumping the final step and standing proudly. “I can handle myself.”

The effect he was going for was ruined by how small he currently was, but Virgil still nodded.

They reached the table just as his dad set down a steaming saucepan of something that smelled absolutely delicious!

“What’s that?” Virgil asked, pointing.

“It’s a special treat, since we have a guest.” His dad pulled down coffee cups and filled them with the milky drink.

Roman scaled the chair, but had a hard time reaching the table, so Dad put all his food on the chair with him.

The drink tasted even better than it smelled, and they both drank a full cup before reaching for rolls and chicken and unwillingly accepting vegetables.

Virgil was soon very pleasantly full, and now quite tired, especially with his missed nap.

“Where’s—“ his words were cut off with a yawn. “Where do you live?”

Roman didn’t answer, and Virgil peeked under the table to see that he’d fallen asleep in his chair.

His dad made a sympathetic ‘aww, he must’ve been tired.’ And got a blanket, scooping Roman up like he did Virgil sometimes, and laying him on the couch in the living room.

Virgil frowned. “We have to wake him up, or else what if he doesn’t get home in time?”

“He’ll be alright to take a nap, sweetheart. Why don’t you help me clean up from dinner?”

But even when dinner was all cleaned up, and Virgil was nearly nodding off standing up, Roman still hadn’t woken.

He tugged at his dad’s sleeve. “We have to help him get home. He said he didn’t want to stay.”

“It’ll be alright, Virgil, I’m sure he’ll wake up soon. Why don’t you take a quick shower and get dressed for bed?”

Virgil was worried. What if Roman got in trouble for not being home in time? What if his mom got back and he wasn’t there? What if his brother was waiting for him and got worried?

But he went to take a shower first, hoping Roman would wake up before he came back down.

And yet, when he came downstairs, Roman was still curled up in the corner of the couch, peacefully sleeping.

“Let’s watch a movie. Maybe he’ll wake up from the sound.” Dad suggested.

Virgil nodded, and shortly he was tucked close to his dad’s side, nodding off as the first song of the movie finished. He patted his dad’s leg. “If he wakes up, you have to—“ he broke off with a long yawn, and cuddled in closer. “You have to help him get home cause it’s dark.”


	2. Chapter 2

“No! No, no, no, I wasn’t supposed to fall asleep! Why didn’t you wake me up?”

Virgil slowly woke up, yawning and looking over to see that the tv was black. Dad was fast asleep, and Roman was shaking him.

“I thought you would wake up,” Virgil protested tiredly. “And I was waiting for you, but then I fell asleep too.”

“I have to get home!” Roman whispered. “Ohh, Remus is going to be so mad.”

Virgil shrugged, still more than half asleep. “Then go.”

“It’s dark!”

Virgil sat up, and carefully slid off the couch. He grabbed Roman’s arm and pulled him to the front door. “I can go with you, but then you have to let me sleep over cause I don’t want to walk by myself.”

“Will your dad be ok with that?”

“The rule is that if we let them sleepover, then I can sleepover too. And if I can’t sleepover, then they can’t sleep here. So if dad let you stay, I must be allowed.”

Virgil opened the door and looked out into the darkness.

“You know how to get there, right?”

“More or less. If I ever get lost I just have to get big enough to see it.”

“Alright.” They ventured out a few steps before they both reached out to hold hands, and walked out into the night together.

“So what’s your house like?” Virgil whispered, trying to be quiet enough not to draw attention from whatever might be out in the darkness, but also loud enough to drown out the creepy sounds.

“Oh, mine’s a _special_ house! It’s hidden in a cave.”

“Ooh, like a secret cave?”

“Yeah!” Roman swung their hands a bit. “My brother made it, _allll_ by himself, except he let me help with my room.”

“Can he get big too?”

“Mhmm! He can get even bigger than me! But normally he doesn’t. Cause he gets tired when he does his job, and then he doesn’t want to anymore.”

“Oh. Does it not work if you’re tired?”

Roman shook his head. “And if you try when you’re too tired, it makes you feel all yucky.”

“Then how did you get normal-sized again? Aren’t you tired?”

“Well, I can do a little. Just not a lot.”

“Oh.”

From then on the conversation wandered to lighter, slightly more stilted subjects. Favorite colors, best teacher, where would they hide things away from home, favorite foods, comparing the merits of shoes vs barefoot, and so on, with the awkward lags between subjects shortening as they kept talking.

Until they got to the forest. It was the same one where Virgil had met Roman, though that didn’t make it any less scary.

“Do we have to go this way?”

“Why, are you scared? You came in by yourself last night.”

“Well, that was for a dare! And it was still a little bit light out. And I had a flashlight.”

“Oh. Well, don’t worry. I’ll protect you. The scariest thing in here is Remus, and he’ll be nice to you cause you’re my friend.”

And that surprised Virgil. “I’m your friend?”

His only other friendship had been a long, slow process. Lots of times where they ended up in a corner together, neither one really wanting to participate in the group activity. It had grown from that, of course, and now Logan came and visited sometimes, but it had taken time. He’d only known Roman for two days! And only learned his name yesterday!

Roman bumped into him with his shoulder. “Of course you’re my friend! What else would we be?”

Virgil just shrugged. “Well, then... then you’re my friend too.”

Roman shocked him by suddenly grabbing him tight in a hug. “We can be best friends! And we can have sleepovers! And Remus can give us both piggyback rides at the same time!”

The exuberance was a little much, and _waaay_ too loud for a forest that could have human eating monsters hiding in it, but Virgil smiled despite that.

“ _There_ you are!” A booming whisper said. “Where have you _been_?!”

And that was all the warning Virgil had before a massive hand closed over both him and Roman.

Virgil clung to Roman, gripping his shirt tightly and holding on in a death grip, especially as they started moving upward.

“Remus! Remus, stop! You’re scaring him and he’s squishing me!”

“He’s what?!”

And then massive fingers tried to pull him away from Roman, and Virgil let out a bloodcurdling scream.

“Whoa. That was a good one.” The loud voice said.

“Re! Mus! Put! Us! Down!” Roman yelled.

Remus set them down on the ground, and then must’ve shrunk, because his voice was much quieter and more normal when he spoke again.

“Hey, sorry, kid. I didn’t mean to scare you. You’ve got a good screech though.”

Virgil wasn’t letting go of Roman. And he was very tempted to burst into tears.

“He really is the scariest thing out here,” he murmured, shifting his grip but not letting go.

Remus let out a cackling laugh. “Aww, thanks, kid!”

Roman patted Virgil’s back. “It’s ok, you don’t have to be scared anymore. He’s human-sized now and we can just walk home.”

“Speaking of walking home,” Remus said, his voice getting lower in a familiar you-messed-up kind of tone. “Where on earth have you been?!”

“I didn’t mean to!” Roman protested. “But I fell asleep. I came back as soon as I woke up!”

“Where?”

“At Virgil’s house.”

Virgil winced. That was exactly the way to say it to get him in trouble too.

“Why? You never told me about Virgil before.”

“I did too! I met him before yesterday!”

“What, the kid in the woods? And you just followed him home and now you’re best friends?”

Virgil suddenly felt very awkward to still be hugging Roman, but at the same he didn’t want to let go and have to face Remus.

“Well, first I bullied him to get him not to tell anyone, cause he recognized me.”

Remus groaned, and it morphed into a laugh. “Ok, this is a whole story. Let’s get home, and we can talk in the way.”

Virgil let go of Roman, all except his hand, and made sure to stand on the other side from Remus.

Roman very excitedly told Remus the whole story, nearly skipping despite the darkness. Virgil wondered if he just knew the woods well enough not to trip.

“So your dad knows about us?” Remus asked Virgil when Roman was done.

“Yeah. But I don’t think he’ll tell.”

Remus hummed instead of answering, and it sounded suspicious.

But soon Virgil could see a dull light, and Roman and Remus ducked into a hole. He didn’t want to go into a strange hole, but he really, really didn’t want to be left all alone outside in the dark.

So he also went through.

The cave seemed pretty small, and cozy looking, with blankets mounded up in one place and an unused fire pit a bit away from them. There was a camping lantern hanging from a string that light up the cave.

“Virgil, Virgil, come see this!” Roman said, grabbing his hand and pulling him back further into the cave, past the ring of light.

But then Roman spun back around. “Wait, wait, forgot the light.”

So Virgil was dragged back, and then again into the recesses of the cave.

“Ok! Now close your eyes!”

Virgil shook his head. “What if there’s a hole, and you shove me in?”

“I wouldn’t do that!” Roman said, frowning. “Come on, please?”

Virgil sighed, and grabbed onto Roman’s sleeve. “If you try anything, I’m pulling you down with me.”

“I’m not _trying_ anything. Just close them.”

So Virgil closed his eyes.

There was a click as Roman turned the light on.

“Ok. Now open!”

Virgil opened his eyes, and sat down almost immediately. The cave opened up. Far up. And far down. It was absolutely massive. The light didn’t even reach the edges.

“Isn’t it great!” Roman said. “Back when I used to get stuck big sometimes I would stay in here until I could figure out how to get small again.”

Virgil nodded. “It’s big.”

“It’s huge!” Roman said excitedly. “Maybe tomorrow I can get big for you and you can see! I can’t touch the ceiling yet, but Remus can!”

“Not tonight, though. It’s time to sleep.” Remus said, walking towards them and yawning.

Roman frowned. “But I’m not tired anymore!”

“Yeah, well I am.”

“Oh, you don’t even have work tomorrow!”

Remus picked Roman up and threw him over his shoulder. “And just who do you think was up all night looking for you while you were napping?”

Virgil followed, smiling a little as Roman squirmed and writhed and complained.

“You can stay with us tonight, kid,” Remus said, waving at Virgil to follow them.

At first, a blanket nest on the rock didn’t seem like it would be comfortable, but Remus mounded you the blankets and made a little divot in the middle, flipping down into it. Roman flopped down half on top of him, making him let out a slightly pained ‘oof’. Virgil laid down on the other side of Roman.

“You have to put part on top, that’s the rule,” Roman said, kicking Virgil’s leg until he moved it to lay over Roman’s, and the flinging out both arms to have one over Virgil and one over Remus.

It was a strange rule, but Virgil didn’t mind too much.

“Alright, now no talking, I’m going to sleep,” Remus said, turning the lantern off.


	3. Chapter 3

Virgil didn’t know what time it was when he next woke, since it was still dark. He didn’t feel tired anymore though. Roman was still sound asleep, now clinging to him like an octopus.

It took Virgil a minute to find Remus, but he had rolled away a bit, and had grown in his sleep, filling up the entrance to the cave, and snoring lightly, but louder since he was bigger. He was all splayed out, one hand stretched out towards them, and Roman half laying on his fingers.

Virgil considered trying to get up, but he couldn’t get out of the cave without waking Remus, and he didn’t want to slip down into that huge room, so he just yawned and laid still.

But there was only so long you could just lay still when you weren’t tired, and he started shifting, trying to pry Roman off without waking him up.

But Roman was really hard to budge. He kept holding tighter. “Noooo... i’s asa’urday... don’ hafta leave...”

“Not leaving... lemme go!” Virgil whispered, still trying to wriggle away. It was a good thing he had practice squirming out of Dad’s arms, or he never would’ve gotten away.

Finally he was free.

He grabbed one of the smaller blankets and swirled it around his shoulders, wishing he’d grabbed his hoodie instead of just going with Roman right away.

He grabbed the lantern, and carried it with him further back into the cave, feeling out each step before he took it. Once he thought he was far enough, he sat down and turned it on, squinting at first in the light, and then looking out over the huge room.

Instead of sharp rocks and drop offs, the room was all sloped, and mounded. Some of the slopes were very steep, but they looked like it would just be like a terrifyingly fast slide. And there were many. The biggest were around the edges, but there were several little hill-looking mounds in the middle too, with smaller, gentler slopes.

He looked around for a while, and then found a small rock, and rolled it over the edge. The sound echoed quite a bit more than he would have expected, as the rock rolled down, and down, and down, until he could just barely see it as it rolled around one of the mounds, though he could still hear it for several more minutes.

There was a sleepy groan from behind him, and footsteps, and soon Roman slumped down next to him, still rubbing his eyes.

“Morning,” Roman said through a yawn.

“Sorry I woke you up.”

Roman shrugged. “It’s morning anyway.”

They sat there silently for a bit, while Roman woke up.

“Let’s wake up Remus for breakfast, and then we can sled.”

“Sled?”

Roman grinned. “Yeah! We have some old cardboard boxes, and you sit on them, and scoot over the edge, and slide _allll_ the way down!”

Roman ran back quickly, shoving Remus and saying in a voice only slightly lowered, “Wake up! Wake up! Come on, wake up!”

Remus groaned loudly and rolled over. “Go t’ sleep, ‘s early...”

“Please, Remus. If you let us eat, then you can go back to sleep after!”

Remus groaned again, blinking and squinting. He reached out and moved a rock that Virgil didn’t even know could move, and then curled up facing away from them, pulling several blankets over himself.

Roman ran into the room and came out with a box of pop tarts. “We can have these for breakfast.”

“We get pop tarts?” Virgil asked excitedly.

Roman nodded and ripped one open. “We don’t have a toaster though, so you have to eat them normal temperature.” He handed one to Virgil.

Between the two of them, they ate half the box, and then brought it into the big room and set it on the side, so they could keep eating as they played.

Roman pulled out several flattened cardboard boxes, and gave Virgil the newest one.

“So you fold up the one side, and hold on really, really tight. If you fall off you’ll get a rub burn.”

Virgil nodded very solemnly. “You go first, and I’ll watch.”

Roman sat on the box cross-legged, folding up the flaps and holding them tightly, and then scooting forward until he slid over the edge.

Virgil’s stomach swooped as he saw how very fast Roman slid down the rock, and around the first mound, in a similar way to how the rock he’d rolled down had. But then Roman slowed, and stood up, climbing to the top of the mound and waving.

“Come on down!”

Virgil set the cardboard down, and sat on it, and gripped tightly to the flaps. And then scooted forward.

The swoop in his stomach was ten times as powerful when it was him going over the edge, forcing its way up as a panicked squeal. He shut his eyes tight, and was incredibly glad when the box stopped moving.

“That was awesome, Virgil!” Roman cheered. “You did really well for a first time!”

Virgil smiled, and tried to chuckle as he stood up on shaky legs. “Let’s do a smaller one next.”

“Alright!” Roman said immediately, running up one of the mounds and setting his cardboard down.

The smaller mounds were much more fun to slide from, and gradually Virgil built up enough courage to climb all the way back up, and slide down the big slope with Roman again.

Remus joined them a bit later, still very large, and he would pick them up and set them on the top, so they didn’t have to climb anymore.

But by the time Virgil was hungry again, he realized something. “I don’t think Dad knows where to come to pick me up. I should probably go home soon.”

“I’m sure he’ll show up in a bit,” Remus said. “Let’s get some lunch, and maybe after that he’ll get here.”

“Can you call him?” Virgil asked. “I think he might get lost.”

“He’ll be fine, he’s an adult, isn’t he?”

Virgil was worried. It was almost as if Remus didn’t want him to go home yet. And while he trusted Roman pretty well, he wasn’t sure about Remus yet. “My dad sometimes gets lost though. I’d really like to call him please.”

“Just wait until after lunch, ok? Then we’ll call him.”

Virgil nodded, but he was starting to get worried. He hadn’t actually told Dad he was sleeping over, and maybe he was in big trouble.

And the more he thought about it while he ate lunch, the surer he was that he’d messed up, and was surely in really, truly massive trouble.

“Can I call my dad now please?” He asked, though a large part of him just wanted to hide.

Remus looked at him a little oddly, but finally nodded. “Alright, here’s the way this works, I’ll go call him, and tell him where you’re at, and then I’ll come back and you can talk with him, ok?”

“But if you come back, you won’t have any service, remember? You should take Virgil with you.” Roman said.

Remus suddenly glared at Roman, and that made Virgil even worse uncomfortable.

Remus sighed. “Alright, kid, let’s go.”

Virgil followed him out of the cave and into the woods, and Roman stayed behind to clean up from lunch.

It wasn’t very far, but Virgil was feeling more and more antsy. Remus was watching his phone, and suddenly stopped. “Ok. We can call him here. What’s his number?”

Virgil told him the number and Remus called it. Virgil held out his hand, but Remus made a wait gesture, holding the phone to his own ear.

“Hello? Yes, is this Virgil’s dad? Yes, he’s with me. Ok, listen to me. Listen carefully. You’ve met Roman. Yes. And I’m sure he told you about me. Yes. Now I need a promise from you that you’ll never tell anyone about either of us, or else you won’t see your son again.”

Heavy realization hit all at once, and Virgil bolted.

He ran as fast as his legs would take him through the trees, hoping to find some kind of landmark to take him back home.

“Kid! Virgil! Stop!”

Oh no. He wasn’t stopping for someone who was kidnapping him. He ran even harder, watching less where he was going as long as he was still moving away from Remus.

He knew what to do if someone tried to kidnap him. Run, scream, and if they grabbed you, kick where it hurts. He was already running, and was too focused on that to scream, but when he was suddenly hoisted off his feet he let out the loudest screech he could, kicking and struggling.

“Virgil, stop this. Calm down.” Remus said, his voice big and loud again.

He covered Virgil’s mouth and Virgil tried to bite him.

“Virgil!” The massive frown struck terror into Virgil’s heart, and he really couldn’t help the tears that started falling.

Remus’s frown dropped almost immediately, but he didn’t let go of Virgil, carrying him back and pushing him inside the cave.

“What happened?!” Roman asked.

“You stay in here.” Remus said firmly. “Both of you. You aren’t allowed to leave.”

The light was shut off as Remus put something over the opening, and Virgil just collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Virgil, what happened??” Roman asked, trying to give him a bit of a hug.

“H-he—you’re—I-I-I’m kidnapped!”

“Virgil, you’re really freaking out, can you calm down? Nobody’s kidnapping you, you’re still at my house.”

Virgil broke down into a wail. “He-he-he said I wouldn’t-wouldnt see my dad again!”

“Remus would never do that. He wouldn’t, I promise.” Roman started mounding up blankets around Virgil, probably trying to make him feel better.

But whether it was blankets, or water, or more pop tarts, that Roman tried to offer him,Virgil didn’t care. He was starting to feel strangely detached, even from his own fear and panic, and realized slowly that his vision was sparkling around the edges.

Roman finally sat down next to him, rubbing a hand gently on his back. “Virgil, please don’t cry.”

From somewhere in his memory, he vaguely remembered his dad telling him to breathe slowly when he was scared, leading him through something to help him. But it was a fuzzy memory, and he couldn’t remember what he was supposed to do.

He finally just settled for trying to make his breathing match the slow strokes of Roman’s hand, and things started feeling a bit more real. He was laying on the floor in a cave. It was dark, but not entirely black. Roman was still asking him not to cry, and now Roman sounded like he was struggling not to cry too.

“I’m ok,” Virgil croaked out. He rolled over onto his back, and Roman practically tackled him in a hug.

He tried explaining what had happened, and was more than a little surprised that Roman completely and entirely took his side.

“My brother is being _stupid_! I don’t care about the rules, he can’t go kidnapping my friends!”

Virgil was still surprised, but it was quickly fading into an intense exhaustion. “If my dad comes, you _have_ to wake me up, ok?”

“What, are you sleeping? In the middle of the day?”

Virgil nodded slightly, as it was getting harder and harder to resist the pull of exhaustion.

“Ok. I’ll protect you while you sleep. And I’ll make sure you wake up if your dad comes.”

Virgil nodded again, his eyes slipping shut.


	4. Chapter 4

Yeah, he might as well be dead. He’d kidnapped and terrified a little kid, Roman’s friend, no less, and locked them both inside the cave while the kid was panicking. He’d called the kid’s dad, only to drop his phone as soon as he’d made the ultimatum. The guy was probably freaking out as much as his kid was.

He’d gone and thrown a wrench into literally everything. He was dead. He was very, very dead. And now he still was stuck in the situation. A slow, long, tortuous death. And not even the fun kind.

Ugh.

Well, he should start by calling the guy back. He shrank down to human size and found his phone, which was surprisingly still on, and the call was on too.

“Hello?”

“You’re back! Oh, thank goodness. Is Virgil alright?!”

Remus sighed, sitting down and raking his hand through his hair. “Yeah, he’s fine.”

“What happened?!”

“He tried to run off. He’s with Roman now, inside.”

There were a couple shaky, but deliberate breaths on the other end of the line. “Alright. You wanted me to not tell anyone, right? I won’t tell anyone. Why—“ his voice choked up. “Why would you kidnap my son for something like that?”

Remus sighed again, squeezing his eyes shut and tugging at his hair. “It’s complicated.”

“I have time. I promised, now tell me where I can come get him, and then while I’m on the way you tell me why.”

He didn’t know what else to do. It wasn’t like he was a skilled kidnapper, or a skilled anything. Even now, he was only barely keeping himself and Roman fed. And he’d never intended to kidnap somebody. He didn’t know what to do.

“Alright.” He gave the man instructions for how to get to the cave from the edge of the forest where he usually came in and out to go to work.

“Ok. Now tell me what all this is really about.”

“Well, it’s... we’re freaks. You’ve seen Roman, you know. If we ever got found out we’d be taken to some kind of lab and dissected. We aren’t allowed to let people know. And if they do know then I’d have to take Roman and leave, but I can’t do that, cause if our parents come back for us and we’re not here...”

“How long have they been gone?”

Remus was dangerously close to tearing up, and with a stranger on the phone. A stranger whose son he’d literally kidnapped. “A couple years.”

“Are you sure they’re coming back?”

Something dangerously angry in the pit of Remus’s stomach bubbled. “How _dare_ you. You don’t know _anything_ about my parents, how _dare_ you say they’ve just abandoned us!”

“That’s not what I was saying—“

“Then what were you saying?!”

There was a long silence, and when he spoke again, his voice was very soft and careful. “If they’ve been gone that long, and left the two of you, I’m concerned that they might not be able to come back.”

Remus bit down hard on his lip. He tried to keep his voice steady, but it was thick and rough as he answered. “Just come get Virgil.” He hung up, and only the intimate knowledge of how much he needed the phone stopped him from throwing it.

It wasn’t long before Remus heard someone walking towards him, rustling through the thick leaves even louder than Roman did. The thick rock of dread in his stomach just kept growing. Once the man had his son back, what was to stop him from calling the police anyway? But Remus didn’t want to keep Virgil. It was a dumb, fast idea to try and keep the man from telling anyone. But now the man was surely even more upset, and there’d be nothing to stop him. They were done for, both of them. Either they’d be grabbed by scientists and weird government people, or they’d have to leave what little Remus had finally managed to set up for them, and if they left they might miss their parents. Certainly the glimmer of hope he’d clung to so desperately would be gone. 

And if it was just him, it’d be fine. He could sleep by the side of the road, or rummage in someone’s trash cans, terrorize some strangers into feeding him before he moved on. But not Roman. He couldn’t do that to Roman. 

He didn’t know what to do anymore. He never really had, but now he’d gone and dug himself into an awfully deep hole and he didn’t know how to get back out again.

And then he saw the man, looking very concerned, and trudging in his direction. 

Remus shifted a bit larger. Enough to move the rock from the cave entrance, and also to seem a bit more intimidating. He’d try as much as he could to not show how desperate he really was. Power worked. It made him feel just a bit slimy, but it worked. Though he couldn’t really shift much more for a while, it was already making him feel nauseous and shaky.

The man saw him, and stopped short. “Are you Remus?”

Remus nodded. “And you’re Virgil’s dad?”

He nodded. “Where’s Virgil?”

Remus nodded towards the cave. “In there. I’ll let him out, but you promise you won’t ever tell anyone about us first.”

The man let a sigh that was so genuinely relieved it made Remus feel even worse. “I promise. Let him out, please.”

He hadn’t grown enough to move the rock as easily as he had before, and he tugged hard until it rolled over, revealing the entrance. No sooner was it open than Roman came running out, glaring at him intensely. “Remus, you butthead!”

“You’re mean! And you scared Virgil!” Roman ran up to him, shoving at his leg angrily. “You told him he couldn’t see his dad again?!”

“I did not!” Remus protested, scooping Roman up. 

While they were arguing Virgil’s dad crawled into the cave, and soon came back out carrying a crying Virgil, who was clinging tightly to him.

But instead of leaving he just stayed there. Even sat down. 

Remus hushed Roman. “What are you doing?”

“I want to know what happened,” he said firmly. “I want to know why you’re living in a cave and what made you think you had to kidnap my son. And I want to know when you took him out of my house.”

That sounded exactly like gathering evidence to give to the police, and Remus froze. But to his surprise, Virgil spoke.

“He didn’t take me, he just kept me. I left with Roman cause he didn’t want to walk home by himself, and I stayed the night here, cause I didn’t want to walk by myself either.”

Virgil’s dad let out a long, long sigh. “Yeah, I guess I walked myself into that one, didn’t I? Alright. I’d like to know why you kept my son.”

Remus sat down, and Roman actually stayed quiet. “I already told you. No one is supposed to know about us. I can’t erase your memories or anything, but I could make sure you didn’t tell anyone.”

The man nodded slowly. “And why are you both in a cave? Is this where you lived before your parents had to leave?”

A rock settled in Remus’s chest at that thought, and Roman answered instead. “No, they told us to stay here. Our other house was found out, and it’s not safe any more.”

Virgil’s dad nodded again, and Virgil seemed to be falling asleep again in his lap. Poor kid. 

“I’m… for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for scaring you both,” Remus said.

Virgil’s dad took in a deep breath. “I accept your apology, Remus.”

There was a bit of an awkward silence, which Roman broke. “Is Virgil not allowed to come over anymore?”

Virgil’s dad gave a laugh that was far more incredulous than amused, shaking his head.

Roman’s face fell even further. “Can— are we still allowed to be friends?”

Remus set a hand against Roman’s back gently, preparing to console him after the man left and took Virgil away forever. He really felt bad about making Roman lose his friend, no matter how necessary he had thought it was a few hours ago.

But the man seemed to think for a few seconds, his head tipped down where Remus couldn’t see his face, and when he looked up, he seemed both very calm and very determined.

“I don’t think your parents wanted you to live here. Clearly they love you very much, and tried to help you two be as safe and happy as you could be.” He paused for a second. “And I love Virgil very much. It would make me sad to think of him living in a cave, even while I was very proud of him for trying so very hard to live well. Especially if he were taking care of a brother so well.”

Remus wasn’t sure what to say. He also wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a compliment, or if he was trying to kick them out.

“Would you two allow me to help you until your parents come back? I’d like to offer you a place in my house with me and Virgil. I won’t— or I’ll try, not to act like a dad, cause I’m not your dad, but I’d like to help take care of you both.”

Remus had no idea what to say to that. None at all.

Roman, on the other hand, was jumping up and down excitedly. “Like a forever sleepover! Or a really super long one! And we can watch movies! And there’s carpet and beds! And air conditioning!”

Remus grabbed Roman, holding him as if he were a large stuffed animal despite Roman’s protests and kicking. “That’s not how this works. That’s never how it works. You were mad. I scared your kid. I kidnapped him!”

Virgil’s dad nodded, seeming to not be intimidated even by Remus’s larger size. “You did. Yes. But you apologized. And… you’re a kid too. Maybe not for too much longer, but you are now. You’re allowed to mess up some.”

Remus still didn’t think he could trust it. But even if it only turned out to be a few days, the idea of beds and air conditioning, and warm water, especially when he didn’t have to sneak or steal any of it, was growing and growing in his mind.

“If… if we get mad at each other, or you get mad at us, you have to let us go back peacefully.” Remus said. “You have to promise. You won’t call police, or tell anyone, or try to get me fired. You just let us come back here.”

Virgil’s dad nodded very seriously. “I promise.”

Remus let Roman go. “Then, ok. And… thank you.”


End file.
